The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds

by Kamahido

Chapter 23 - Party Crashers

Arc and Rose hurry down the street.

“What do you suppose they want?!”

Arc frowns. “Probably to cause trouble! All the nation’s leaders will be in one place! Perfect opportunity for them!”

“Do you think they’ll try to hurt Princess Luna too?!”

“Most likely! It would certainly strain the new relationship between our two nations!”

“We have to help her!”

“We will, my dear! Trust me!”

Half an hour later the pair arrive at the Aviary. They are stopped by a guard at the gates.

“HALT!”

Arc stops and rolls his eyes. “Great. Decimus junior is here.”

The guard levels his weapon at them. “State your intent!”

Rose steps forward. “We saw what looked like rebels flying overhead a little while ago.”

“We shall take care of them! Have no fear!”

Arc’s eyes grow wide. “Wait! SHALL take care of them! You mean you haven’t done so yet?!”

“The Arbiter is doing everything in his power to…!”

Rose interrupts. “We can help!”

“That will not be necessary!”

Arc steps forward, angrily. “Let me speak to Arbiter Ghaleon at once, peasant!”

The guard frowns as he points his weapon at Arc’s face. “No! Leave now, or face the consequences!”

“Is that your final answer on the matter?”

“It is!”

“Fine.”

Arc deftly knocks the spear away and grabs the guard by the front of his armor as Rose quickly disarms him. He slams the griffon against a wall and glares at him.

“Now that I have your attention, worm, how about you tell the Arbiter I’m here. That is… unless you want to be taught another lesson.”

He drops the guard to the ground. Rose walks over to him and returns his weapon.

“I’m sorry, but we really don’t have time for this. Please just let him know Lord Arc is here.”

The guard nods, grabs his spear, and hurries away. Rose turns to Arc.

“You could have gone a little easier on him.”

Arc shrugs. “Like you said. We don’t have time for this.”

He looks her up and down.

“That was pretty impressive how you disarmed him. Where did you learn that?!”

Rose giggles. “My mother taught me how to defend myself.”

A few minutes later the guard returns.

“Forgive me, sir. Please follow me.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

They follow the guard to the courtyard. Arbiter Ghaleon is giving orders to his troops as they arrive. He turns to Arc as he walks over.

“I do not have time to discuss politics with you right now, Hero of Light! What do you want?!”

Rose joins him. “Lord Arc has come to lend a hand.”

“This is a griffon matter!”

Arc steps forward angrily. “It’s also an Equestrian matter, Arbiter!”

“This is sovereign griffon soil! You have no authority…!”

“That may be! But where is Princess Luna?!”

Ghaleon looks toward the Aviary. “She’s inside with the Council of Lords. As far as we know, she’s safe.”

Rose looks nervous. “What of the king?”

“He is in a secure location.”

Arc nods. “Good. Now about rescuing our leader…?”

“I was just about to lead our forces into battle. If you will excuse me, I will…”

Arc puts a hand on the arbiter’s shoulder as he turns to leave. “Wait just a minute! Battle?!”

Ghaleon nods as he turns his head to look at Arc. “We’re going to wipe those rebels out!”

Rose’s eyes grow wide. “They have hostages though!”

“They claim to. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

“I don’t like the sound of that! I’m coming with you!”

“As am I!”

Ghaleon knocks Arc’s hand away. “No, you are not!”

“But…!”

“This is a big enough diplomatic mess with the princess being in danger! We don’t need Equestria’s Hero of Light getting killed here!”

Arc frowns. “I can handle myself.”

Ghaleon looks Arc up and down, disapprovingly. “Can you now? You look more like you’re going to a party than to war.

Arc shrugs. “Well, truth be told, I WAS supposed to be resting in bed.”

Ghaleon walks away. “Go back to your ship, Lord Arc. You’ll be advised if there’s anything I think you need to know.”

Rose steps forward. “Sir, I don’t think you…”

A guard hurries over to the Arbiter with a scroll.

“Arbiter Ghaleon! The rebels just released this message!”

Ghaleon grabs the note. “WHAT?! HOW?!”

The guard rubs his helmet. “Attached to a rock.”

Ghaleon snorts as he unrolls the scroll. “Well, at least nothing important was lost.”

He looks over the note carefully as his face turns red with anger.

“They want WHAT?!”

Rose looks confused. “Good news, sir?”

“The worst! They claim to have captured the entire Council of Lords AND the Equestrian princess!”

Arc frowns. “Maybe they’re bluffing.”

The Arbiter holds up a feather.

“This is one of Lady Ashe’s tail feathers. She would have been with her father Lord Gestal at the time.”

Arc sighs. “Great. What do they want?”

“They claim to be writing up a list of demands now, but want King Guto to join the hostages.”

The guard appears shaken. “We can’t do that, sir!”

“IDIOT! Don’t you think I know that?!”

Rose clears her throat loudly. “Anything else, sir?”

“They claim to be watching all the entrances and windows. If we try to rescue the council members or the princess they’ll start executing them. Starting with the Equestrian princess.”

Arc sighs. “Great. They’re probably watching us right now.

Rose looks to the Aviary. “Yes. Several sets of eyes are on us.”

“Are you certain, Cherry?”

“Yes. I can… see them.”

Ghaleon looks around. “You must have pretty good eyes there, guard.”

Rose nods soberly. “The best, sir.”

“Anything else in that message there?”

Ghaleon growls angrily. “Just one. They insist that I stay in view at all times.”

Rose turns to the Arbiter. “Why?”

“Because they know I’m the only one capable of stopping them!”

Arc chuckles as he folds his arms over his chest. “Are you now?”

Ghaleon narrows his eyes as her turns to Arc. “Yes, you fool! Do you see any other warriors around?!”

The guard looks sheepishly to Ghaleon. “Sir? We could…”

“Stay out of this! It’s your fault they got inside in the first place! You’re lucky I showed up when I did!”

Rose sighs. “Look, can we save the finger pointing until everyone is safe?”

Arc nods. “Agreed. Now, seeing as you CAN’T go in there Arbiter, how about my Honor Guard and I take care of this?”

Ghaleon frowns but nods. “Guess I don’t really have much of a choice right now.”

Rose turns to Arc. “Do you have a plan?”

“Sort of. I’m still working it out in my head. What can you tell us about our assailants, Arbiter?”

“Other than the fact they’re suicidal malcontents, not much.”

Rose looks back to the Aviary. “Do you really believe they’ll carry out their earlier threat?”

“I do. At this point they must know their lives are forfeit. They really don’t have anything left to lose.”

Arc rubs his chin. “You rush in, they kill our leaders and get what they want.”

Rose looks confused. “What they want?”

“Probably a world without the council.”

Ghaleon scoffs. “Fools the lot of them! If you’re crazy enough to go in there, I hereby authorize you to use whatever force you find… entertaining to bring them down!”

Rose’s eyes grow wide. “You mean…?!”

Ghaleon nods. “Yes. The Griffon Kingdom will accept their deaths as necessary and look the other way as far as diplomatic relations are concerned.”

“I’ll try to keep things tidy in there. No promises though.”

“It would be nice to have some prisoners to interrogate, but… do what you have to in there, Hero of Light.”

Ghaleon looks around.

“Now all we have to do is find a way to get you two inside.”

Arc shakes his head. “Leave that to us.”

“Fine. If you do manage to find the council they can probably show you a secret way out of the Aviary and to safety.”

“Good. That means we don’t have to worry so much about how to get out.”

“Let me know as soon as possible when it is safe for me to storm the Aviary with my troops. We’ll finish the job.”

Arc nods. “Very well.”

“I know it goes without saying, but you’ll be completely on your own in there. If there’s trouble, we won’t be able to help you.”

“I understand. If there’s nothing else, I’d like to get underway. Think you can stall them, Arbiter?”

“I’ll buy as much time as I can. But don’t expect too much.”

“Alright. Rose, follow me.”

Rose salutes happily. “Yes sir!”

Arc leads Rose back toward the city. Ghaleon frowns.

“The Aviary is THIS way!”

Arc does not look back. “I know. Just trust me on this one.”

He and Rose round a corner. The guard turns to Ghaleon.

“Do you think they stand a chance, sir?”

Ghaleon turns to walk away. “Shut up, maggot!”

Meanwhile, Arc and Rose stop and look around.

“See anyone, Rose?”

“I don’t sense… I mean, I don’t see anyone. What should we do?”

Arc pulls two Magic Cloaks out of his ring. He hands one to Rose.

“Put this on. We need to do some recon.”

“Okay.”

They put on the magic cloaks and vanish. Rose turns to Arc.

“Now we walk right in the front door?”

“Nah. They’ll be watching them.”

“But we’re invisible!”

“True. But they’ll be there in force. We need to go in where they won’t be expecting it.”

“You already have an idea, don’t you?”

Arc nods and takes Rose’s hand. “Yup. This way, Cherry.”

He leads her around the Aviary to the back and looks up at a balcony.

“There’s our ticket in.”

Rose frowns. “I don’t see it. What do you mean?”

“Let me Blink us up there.”

Rose smiles as Arc puts an arm around her. “I like this plan!”

Arc Blinks them up to the balcony. They look around as he whispers to Rose.

“I don’t see any guards in my old room.”

Blinking inside the room Arc looks around for a few moments. He then walks over to the balcony door, unlocks it and lets Rose in.

“I thought they’d be watching every door like this one.”

Arc nods as he quietly closes and locks the door behind her. “Maybe they didn’t have enough troops.”

“There were quite a few that I saw back there.”

“Fair enough.”

They head for the door and Blink through it into the corridor. Arc looks one way as Rose looks the other.

“All clear, Arc”

“Same here. Follow me.”

The pair proceed down the corridor together. Rose turns to Arc.

“Where are we headed?”

“Let’s try the Dining Room first. They were supposed to have a meal here.”

“Maybe they’re still there!”

“Let’s find out.”

They make their way to the Dining Room. The room is a mess with smashed windows, overturned tables, and food everywhere. Rose frowns.

“I don’t see anyone.”

“Me either.”

Rose shudders. “This is creepy! Where did everyone go?!”

“I’m starting to think the rebels wrote that note and then hightailed it out of here with their hostages.”

“Maybe. But this place is pretty big. They could still be hiding somewhere.”

“The council, or the rebels?”

“Either!”

Arc looks at the food on the floor.

“Interesting.”

Rose frowns. “Now is not the time to eat!”

“No, look!”

Arc points at the talon marks on the floor.

“The rebels weren’t much for covering their trail. These food-laden footprints lead over to this cabinet.”

He puts a hand next to the cabinet as he turns back to Rose.

“There’s a draft.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means there’s a secret passage here.”

“Should we try and move this?”

Arc shakes his head. “No. That would probably make too much noise. Let’s Blink through it, Cherry.”

Rose steps toward Arc and wraps her arms around him. A moment later they find themselves in a narrow unlit hallway. Arc casts a Light Spell as Rose looks around.

“I don’t think this passageway has been used for quite some time.”

Arc removes his magic cloak and stashes it in his ring. “Agreed. But look at that!”

He points down at the floor to a large number of fresh footprints in the dust.

“Let’s follow them. See if we can catch up to the rebels.”

Rose nods as she removes her own cloak and hands it to Arc.

“Right behind you.”

They slowly walk along the corridor together.

“This passageway doesn’t appear to have been kept up very well.”

Arc shrugs. “Probably some old escape route nopony remembers.”

“If it’s so forgotten how do you suppose the rebels knew about it?”

“When we find them, I’ll ask.”

They walk on for some time in silence. Eventually they see a light up ahead.

“I see something!”

“Me too! Stay sharp!”

The pair approach the glow ahead as Arc extinguishes his Light Spell. Peeking around a corner they spot the missing nobles along with the council. Flash Sentry angrily stands guard in front of Princess Luna. She frowns at their captors.

“This will not go unpunished! My nation will…!”

A well armored rebel, whom appears to be leading the operation laughs at her.

“Do nothing! After all, they wouldn’t want to see something happen to their precious princess, now would they?”

Gestal glares at their captor. “Where is my daughter?!”

“Our leader has taken her into custody. Worry not, as she will not be harmed. As long as you do as you’re told that is”

Adalbert frowns. “The Council of Lords will not be swayed by miserable cretins like you!”

Weller shoots his companion a warning glance. “Adalbert! Lady Ashe is in danger!”

Goldstone nods nervously. “Yes! Please keep your wits about you! She’s not the only one in need of help right now!”

Arc visually scans the room. “Looks like they’re keeping them in two separate groups.”

Rose nods. “The Council of Lords and Princess Luna on one side and the nobles on the other! Why do you suppose they’re doing that?”

“Probably because they know the council members won’t make a run for it without Lady Ashe.”

“What about the others?”

Arc sighs. “Well…”

All at once one of the nobles makes a break for it. The Rebel Commander raises a crossbow and deftly fires. The griffon takes the bolt right through their skull and drops like a stone to the ground.

Rose winces. “Those monsters!”

Arc frowns. “At least he didn’t suffer.”

“We’ve got to do something, Arc! Princess Luna could be next!”

“Right. But we need a plan. I could Blink in there, grab Luna, and Blink us both back over here.”

Rose shakes her head. “But they’d kill everyone else!”

Arc nods. “Which is why I’m not already doing that.”

A robed griffon approaches. They are wearing much more ornate decorations than the others.

Rose gasps. “That must be the leader!”

Arc smiles. “Yes… yes it is.”

“You have an idea?”

“Still working on it. Let’s see what they have to say.”

The leader walks over to the Council of Lords but does not speak. The commander hurries over to them.

“We were successful, sir!”

The leader nods and wordlessly makes a gesture toward the council before walking away. The rebels close in around them. Gestal runs forward but is stopped by several strong talons mere feet from the leader.

“WHERE IS ASHE, YOU MONSTER?!”

The commander chuckles. “Safely in our custody. You do as you’re told and she’ll STAY safe!”

He looks at the dead griffon noble lying nearby.

“Fail to follow directions and… let’s just say her future looks… dark.”

Goldstone looks to them, nervously. “Wh-what are you planning to do to us?!”

“Our leader hasn’t yet decided. But I can assure you it will be in the best interest of the citizens.”

Adalbert glares at them. “HA! You mean best for YOU!”

Weller nods. “Indeed! You mean to bring the Griffon Empire to its knees!”

“Call it what you will. But the citizens will be free soon!”

“And my daughter?!”

The commander shakes his head as he turns back to his leader. “I’d worry more about myself if I were you, Gestal.”

Their leader points to the other nobles and puts a talon to their neck. The commander nods as he draws his blade.

“Now then, I believe a… demonstration is in order.”

Adalbert’s eyes grow wide. “Demonstration?!”

“A few more bodies will show you we’re serious about our views.”

Rose turns to Arc. “We can’t let them do this!”

Arc nods. “Right! Okay, here’s the…”

Arc suddenly grabs his head and reels in pain. Rose takes his arm.

“Arc?!”

“Not… now! I… I just…”

Rose puts her arm around him.

“Is it happening again?!”

Arc suddenly straightens up. His voice is eerily calm.

“I’m fine, Cherry. Everything will be taken care of momentarily.”

“So you have an idea?”

“I do.”

Arc again holds his forehead as he raises his voice.

“This… this madness… MUST END!!!”

Before Rose can stop him Arc calls forth his Spear of Righteousness and charges at the commander.

“Have at you, monster!”

Arc catches the commander off guard as the side of his spear smashes into his opponent. The blade in the commander’s talons clatters to the ground.

Adalbert whirls around. “W-what?!”

Weller’s eyes grow wide. “Is that…?”

Luna steps forward, surprised. “Arc?”

Goldstone frowns. “Him again…?!”

Angrily, the Rebel Leader quickly points to Arc. The rebels ready their weapons as the commander reaches for the crossbow in his belt. But Arc knocks the weapon from his grasp with his spear.

“Oh no you don’t, you filth!”

Knocking the commander toward the Council of Lords, Arc Blinks in front of them to catch his prey. He holds his spear to the lieutenant’s neck as he turns to the Rebel Leader.

“Come on! Give me a reason!”

Rose hurries over to the other nobles. She gestures for them to flee back down the passage as she covers their retreat. The leader points to a handful of her troops. They move to stop the escaping nobles but are met by several blows from Rose’s fists. As a few more attempt to overwhelm her, she deftly takes them down with a well-timed roundhouse kick.

“Stay down!”

Arc presses the tip of his spear into the commander’s neck. A trickle of blood drips to the floor.

“Keep walking toward me! See what happens!”

The rebels stop but keep their weapons leveled at Arc.

“LET’S DO THIS!”

He shoves the commander roughly at his comrades. Reaching out with his magic Arc grabs the half dozen weapons pointed at him and pulls them to his side. He levitates the blades beside him, a wicked glint in his eyes.

“So you like to play rough, huh?!”

With a flick of his wrist Arc turns the weapons to point at the rebels. They take a step back fearfully. Arc laughs darkly as the weapons hover around him.

“You’ve sealed your fates, vermin! DIE!!!”

Thrusting his hand forward the weapons hurl back toward their owners, piercing their chests and pinning them to the stone wall. He turns to the leader as they take a step back.

“Going somewhere? Join your friends!”

The commander pulls a blade from his fallen comrade’s chest and flies at Arc. “NO!”

Rose leaps at the commander and slams him to the ground before kicking him in the face.

“Lights out!”

Arc points his spear at the leader in taunt. “Thanks Cherry! Leave the kingpin to me!”

Rose hurries to stand between the council and danger. “Be careful!”

The Rebel Leader pulls a pair of blades from their belt and hovers before Arc. They leap at Arc, who is holding his spear at the ready. They deftly dodge his attack and knock the spear out of Arc’s hand. It clatters to the ground across the room. In retaliation, Arc grabs their robe and throws the griffon across the room.

“I don’t need a weapon to deal with trash like YOU!”

The leader crashes against a wall but recovers and again faces Arc. Flash Sentry watches nervously.

“Be careful, sir!”

Luna nods. “Go easy on them!”

Adalbert laughs. “Bah! Gut ‘em like a fish, Hero of Light!”

Weller frowns. “We need to interrogate them, Adalbert!”

Gestal nods frantically. “Right! My daughter location is in that fool’s wretched skull!”

Flying at Arc, the leader brandishes a set of blades. Arc Blinks above them and forces the leader down.

“Give it up!”

Grabbing both of their talons, Arc forces the leader to drop the weapons before headbutting them. The leader is dazed for but a moment before swooping forward to knock Arc off his feet. Flash Sentry maintains his position between the princess and the battle.

“Watch out, sir!”

In a desperate attempt, the leader goes for one of their blades before quickly doubling back to land heavily on Arc’s chest. They thrust the blade downward, but Arc grabs their talon. Rose calls out.

“Arc! What’s wrong?! Finish it!”

Arc lies on the ground woozily as he struggles to hold back the blade. “Feel so… tired…”

Rose charges forward. “I’ll help!”

Arc shakes his head. “No! Stay with the council!”

Rose does as she is told. Arc reaches up with his other hand to turn the knife back at his attacker. The leader sees this and kicks him with a mighty hind leg. He lands face down on the floor some distance away as the leader flies forward at breakneck speed to finish him off. Arc grins wickedly as he mutters under his breath.

“Come and get me, freak.”

At the last moment Arc rolls to one side and allows his assailant to plant their knife firmly in the ground. Grabbing the leader one last time Arc rolls on top of them and, reaching for his ring, pulls something out. He slams it into their side as a gasp is heard. Arc leans forward and whispers into their ear.

“Bleed, filth.”

He stands up and pulls the Dagger of Eternal Slumber out of his opponent’s side. Chuckling, Arc picks up the leader by the front of their robe and tosses them onto their unconscious commander before turning back to the Council of Lords.

“That’s how you deal with such troublemakers!”

Adalbert grins. “Well done! I…!”

Weller interrupts. “Look!”

He points a talon at the pair. The commander is standing up slowly, trying desperately to protect his leader. Arc turns back to him and sighs.

“So you want to share their fate, huh?”

“No. But it has to be this way!”

The commander pulls something out of his robe and tosses it onto the leader’s chest. They immediately vanishes from sight. Gestal gasps, wide-eyed.

“What the…?!”

Luna looks around. “Where did…?”

The commander staggers toward Arc. “I… I’ll stop you! I’ll…”

Arc shakes his head. “I almost hate to do this to such a weak foe, but…”

He looks at the crossbow on the other side of the room. Arc deftly grabs the bolt from it with his magic. With a flick of his wrist he turns it around to bury the shaft in the lieutenant’s back. The griffon falls to the ground.

“Ack! How…?!”

Arc laughs. “That’s for my hand, scum! Thanks for the pain!”

The commander gasps. “F-forgive me… for failing you… Griffonstone…”

He loses consciousness as Arc turns to face the others. Gestal hurried toward him.

“Well done, Lord Arc! But we must make haste to find my daughter!”

Goldstone looks at the dead rebels before them. “Pitiful…”

Luna nods. “If we can be of any help in that regard…”

Adalbert interrupts. “Thank you, but we’ll take it from here.”

Weller smiles at Arc. “You’ve done our nation a great service, sir! The rebels will be disorganized without their leader.”

Arc nods. “Happy to help! If you’d like, I’d be willing to…”

He suddenly grabs his forehead and stumbles backwards. Rose rushes forward with Flash Sentry to help steady him.

“ARC!”

“Sir!”

Gestal smiles. “You should rest, Lord Arc.”

Weller nods. “Yes. You’ve more than earned a respite.”

Adalbert smiles as he looks at the fallen rebels. “Our troops with sweep up this trash.”

Goldstone laughs. “I say we should leave their bodies here to rot. But the smell would probably reach the Aviary eventually.”

Rose walks toward the corridor with Arc. “This way, everyone. Arbiter Ghaleon is waiting for us outside.”

Flash Sentry turns to Arc. “Lean on me, sir.”

Arc wordlessly nods. The council follows them out of the chamber and silence once again fills the room. The commander raises his head and begins to claw his way in the other direction.

“Have to… help her…!”

As he nears the doorway opposite the one Arc and company left through, a dark portal opens in front of him.

“What the…?”

Three figures in black cloaks step out and look around. A female voice speaks as she walks toward the bodies.

“Good help is SO hard to find these days.”

Another of them approaches the commander and stoops down. They reach for the bolt in his back.

“Let me help you with that.”

The commander nods. “I…”

The figure grabs the griffon’s beak and holds it shut while reaching for the bolt. Ripping it out with such force, the lieutenant passes out from the pain. Holding the bolt the figure turns around and drops their cowl.

“Can’t let Arc have any more of these.”

The Dark One nods. “One is too many, Storm King.”

The Storm King nods as he reaches inside the lieutenant’s robe. “Nothing we can do about that now.”

“Yes. Their leader has failed us for the last time.”

Chuckling, the Storm King turns back to The Dark One. “Maybe not. The device I gave them isn’t on him. He must have used it to teleport them away.”

“If they fared as well as their fellow rebels, I’d say that’s the last we’ll see of them.”

The Storm King shakes his head. “I can’t believe they failed! I mean, they had help from ME!”

The female scoffs at this. “Right. As if YOU’RE infallible.”

He frowns and storms over to her. “I will stick you like a PIG if you speak to me that way again!”

A horn glows under the cowl. “Try it. See what happens!”

The Dark One turns back to the portal’s swirling energies. “Enough. Storm King, your bolts along with Decimus’ toxin worked perfectly. It was them who were incompetent.”

“Yes. Well, I’ve been working on something much more interesting lately. This was but a warm up for my true genius.”

The Dark One chuckles. “Of that I am certain.”

The Storm King stands as they walk toward the portal together. “You just get me what I need, and I’ll work miracles for the cause.”

The Dark One stops and looks back at the commander before picking him up with his dark power. His female companion scoffs as does The Storm King.

“Collecting MORE junk?”

“Picking up trash now, Dark One?”

He chuckles as the commander is tossed through the portal. “This one’s tenacity may yet serve our cause.”

The Storm King shrugs. “Whatever. Garbage is garbage.”

“Even the smallest of insects have a use.”

The Dark One enters the portal and vanishes from sight. The Storm King turns to the female and frowns.

“Our leader may trust you, but I do not! Watch yourself… whatever your name was.”

She shakes her head and walks toward the portal. “Sunset Shimmer. Do try to remember it in the future, beast.”

The pair enter the portal together as it closes behind them.

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

This conspiracy must be deeper than I thought if they’re pulling out all the stops to stop Arc. Something tells me the poison de-aged Arc somehow. I also have a strong hunch that the groups on Earth and Equestria are connected in some form or another.

Also, the complexity of this fic is almost on the level of a 90s JRPG. I normally hate reading mysteries, but this one is an exception.

[Booster Spice]

Im wondering how Lady Ashe managed to throw off the effect of the sleeping dagger? Either she has an antidote, or it didnt hit her fully through armor, or took time to set in?

As for that end twist?.. Discords running the candy stall again?

[Kamahido]

10254924
Glad you're enjoying the ride.

The rebels aren't actually trying to stop Arc, but the signing of the peace treaty. He just happens to keep getting in the way.

The poison didn't de-age Arc. It just kinda messed his mind up. Now all his emotions are amplified and his thoughts are muddled. That's why he mistook Rose for Cherry. When he saw the rebels, something inside him finally snapped and he was overcome with blind rage. That's why he did... what he did.

[Kamahido]

10255140
The Dagger of Eternal Slumber is the only weapon capable of killing an alicorn. They can regenerate from pretty much any other wound. However, it is still a very lethal weapon if used against any other foe. It just happened to be the only other weapon Arc had at his disposal at the time. Whether or not the rebel leader, whomever they are, could survive being stabbed by Arc is yet to be seen.

[HB_DS2013]

10255758 Arc is the LIVING embodiment of Spanner in the Works.

[Kamahido]

10256269
The best part is this time especially he's wasn't even TRYING to find trouble. I mean, he hasn't actually done anything to the rebels that they didn't instigate. Arc agrees with the Council of Lords that they're a griffon problem, so if they would just leave him alone, he'd reciprocate. Then the kidnapped Luna... TRIGGERED!

[HB_DS2013]

10256298 To think this all started because Twilight got drunk and Goldstone molested a pony. Wow, Discord’s right: we wouldn’t have stories without chaos.